"Urambo Tauro" (urambotauro)
10/20/2016 at 15:00 • Filed to: tesla, autonomous, hav, level 5, demonstration, driving, discussion
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"Urambo Tauro" (urambotauro)
10/20/2016 at 15:00 • Filed to: tesla, autonomous, hav, level 5, demonstration, driving, discussion | 1
| 14 |
GIF from Jalopnik
Tesla has released !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! demonstrating how their autonomous technology is coming along. It’s a rough glimpse into the future of HAVs. Let’s analyze how it handles public roads and traffic.
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Now, I don’t usually play the backseat driver game, but since this car is responding to sensory inputs and programming, everything it does should be repeatable under the same conditions. I suspect that if this car was released to the world today, it would make the same driving choices. Are these good or bad choices? Let’s go for a ride:
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0:17 The first thing you’ll notice as the car sets out is that it doesn’t slow down as it exits the driveway. You or I would have to take a moment to look both ways before accelerating again, but could this be an indication of its ability to sense traffic faster than us? Is the car ignoring potential traffic, or is it sensing that the way is indeed clear?
0:30 Tesla makes a complete stop at the stop sign and after about two seconds (actually longer than that, considering that the video is sped up) makes a left turn, immediately taking the left side of the unpainted road. Did it take the wrong “lane” initially, or did it sense a need to maneuver around the parked van before defaulting to the right lane? Does the drainage gutter placement indicate that the van is actually on the shoulder of this road?
0:40 The Tesla approaches a main road, its first encounter with moving traffic. I don’t see a stop sign or traffic signal, but the car makes two stops: one at the stop line, and a second one as if to account for visibility around that corner, like you or I would for a right turn on red maneuver.
We see traffic approaching, and the Tesla accelerates IMMEDIATELY after the first flash of the other car’s indicator. Is this a lightning-fast reaction to the other car’s communicated intention, or was this just coincidence, and the Tesla was going to proceed anyway? If the other car had not been turning, would the Tesla have forced the other driver to slow down?
0:49 Now that the Tesla has joined a main roadway, it aims directly for the left lane. Why? Could this have something to do with the previously approaching car?
1:10 The Tesla is shown merging into the right lane, but this is clearly an edit from a later portion of the drive. The car hasn’t been in the left lane this whole time, has it?
1:15 Another edit to later in the trip. The car jumps into the left lane rather quickly to avoid the right-turn-only lane, but remember: the video is sped up, so this isn’t as abrupt as it looks.
1:41 As the car takes the exit ramp, the steering wheel performs two adjustments: the first seems to be a lane-keep maneuver as the road starts to curve, and the second accounts for the angle of the off-ramp. These movements are confident and precise corrections, but it bothers me that the car started to veer from lane center in the first place. I’d like to see better anticipatory lane-keeping than what Autopilot can currently handle.
1:53 The car makes another “full and complete stop” for the sign. As it should! But the next movements of the wheel as it makes the turn are anything but smooth.
2:02 I can’t tell how fast that motorcycle is going, all I know is that it’s faster than everyone else. Oh well, back to the Tesla...
2:07 Pretty satisfyingly smooth turn, there. Well done.
2:17 The nose came pretty close to the yellow line at the end of that turn, but technically stayed inside it. Totally bodged the apex.
2:22 WTF That’s the oncoming lane, Tesla! I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul. This is why you’re not ready for prime-time.
2:27
Instead of making a curb-side stop to deliver the passenger, the car seems to be in the middle of transitioning from the wrong side of a two-lane two-way aisle to what I would consider an extra-wide one-lane aisle.
2:42 Some jerky motions with the wheel there, but at such low speeds they would have little effect on passenger comfort.
2:52 Pedestrian alert! Good catch, Tesla. Not sure why you waited so long to get moving again afterward, though. That’s some rather human-like hesitation.
3:04 Tesla rolls through what could be a stop line, but let’s just call it a yield line, huh? It’s just a parking lot, and there’s no conflicting traffic ATM.
3:06 Tesla ignores the yellow line again, and fails to swing wide enough to be in ONE lane when it reaches the stop line. Parking lot or not, that’s sloppy.
3:18 Showoff. I mean, my parallel parking skills are pretty ok, but damn , Tesla.
(I swear I’m not this judgmental when I’m a passenger in your car.)
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So, overall: Pretty impressive, Tesla. There’s plenty of stuff yet to work on, though. You’ve got the hardware to do some really cool precision driving. I can’t wait to see what you come up with.
What did you notice in the video? As a driver, what would you do differently?
SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie
> Urambo Tauro
10/20/2016 at 15:03 |
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I feel like it could be braking later, getting on the gas earlier, and really nailing those apexes.
My hovercraft is full of eels
> Urambo Tauro
10/20/2016 at 15:16 |
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They couldn’t cut a 3-minute-long video together without their car turning into the oncoming lane? C’mon...
I understand that Musk really wants to be the first to put a fully autonomous car on the market while the other carmakers waste their time with development and testing, but this seems to be far from safe and ready.
During the entire video, the movement of the car feels very lumpy to me. It’s like if it was driven by a very inexperienced driver who keeps switching between being too cautious and being too daring.
Takuro Spirit
> Urambo Tauro
10/20/2016 at 15:34 |
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2:52 Pedestrian alert! Good catch, Tesla. Not sure why you waited so long to get moving again afterward, though. That’s some rather human-like hesitation
The car was busy flipping the guy off and calling him a fucking fuckhead fucker. Good thing we had the ‘Stones to drown that out.
fintail
> Urambo Tauro
10/20/2016 at 15:34 |
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I wonder about the size of the settlements once these start hitting people. I’d like a new house.
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Takuro Spirit
> SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie
10/20/2016 at 15:35 |
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Could also be double clutching, granny shifting, etc.
Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
> Urambo Tauro
10/20/2016 at 15:45 |
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With regard to the turn signal thing, that seems scary how self driving cars might handle that. I never trust turn signals from cross traffic. I only judge their intent based on approach speed, acceleration, and general vectoring. Basically, the turn signal has no bearing on whether the crossing cars are going straight or not. I will not turn until I am sure that the car has commited to turning.
facw
> My hovercraft is full of eels
10/20/2016 at 15:55 |
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Some of that is the sped up footage. Don’t know why they wouldn’t just show the drive at normal speed.
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facw
> Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
10/20/2016 at 15:57 |
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You certainly don’t want to trust it completely, but I think considering distance (if it is further away but has it turn signal on you can go, but watch it in case you need to speed up to avoid a collision), and speed (if the car has a turn signal on and is slowing down, it’s a good bet to turn).
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facw
> fintail
10/20/2016 at 16:00 |
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Well the question is will they hit people? This car clearly needs work (wrong way into the parking lot, really?) but seemed pretty cautious about the pedestrian. I don’t think it’s a stretch at all to assume they will be less likely to hit people. Of course someone could still step out from behind a truck, but the car will have cameras to record that person being reckless.
DynamicWeight
> Urambo Tauro
10/20/2016 at 16:19 |
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How did it find that parking spot? Does it have to be told to park there or can it find it on it’s own? Or something in between? ie, it has to be told where the parking spaces are, but then it can select a vacant one.
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fintail
> facw
10/20/2016 at 16:27 |
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But would it hit a reckless person that a human driver might have avoided? Lawyers will be licking their chops when this stuff attracts more trend seekers. I’m not sold on it just yet, and don’t know if it will ever really come to fruition - our local LEO heroes will have something to say about it, as these things won’t generate ticket revenue.
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facw
> fintail
10/20/2016 at 16:31 |
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I don’t know seems quite likely to me that they will hit fewer pedestrians than a human. The issue with a human is their attention can be distracted (most people aren’t going to run over a pedestrian if they see one), but the self driving car can identify them in every direction at once, so the only way it should miss them is if someone is behind an obstacle, which is an issue (and a bigger one) for human drivers as well.
Police may not like them, but they’ll either reform to not be based around collecting fines, or more likely will take advantage of computer vision tech to capture more traffic offenses automatically. They might even try to tap in to the cameras on the self driving cars to catch offenders (you can be sure insurance companies are going to want to use that data to find out which human driven cars are being driven dangerous so they can up premiums on their owners).
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fintail
> facw
10/20/2016 at 16:38 |
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Yep, a human can be distracted, while software and sensor technology can be inadequate. If something can’t identify the proper side of the road, I don’t know if I would have complete faith in it otherwise. Going to be an interesting next several years as this develops.
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Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
> facw
10/20/2016 at 16:39 |
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Well of course, it can be used from the perspective of “if I am wrong, I just look like a jackass or I have to waste gas accelerating quickly” but I would never trust the turn signal if it meant the other guy slamming on his brakes or surely hitting me. Although I have seen plenty of people who pull into traffic in front of me even without my turn signal on, leading to the same outcome. So I surely welcome our self driving overlords vs most people!